Whittonstall First School is a small rural school nestling on the southern edge of Northumberland in the North Eastern England and is a purpose built building designed to give the best education to the children of the surrounding rural area. The school was originally designed to accommodate a maximum of 72 students.

The school population has reached 70 and therefore in order for the school to expand it must extend. An additional multipurpose classroom would not only give the school the opportunity to grow but also create a valuable addition to the existing community of Whittonstall.

The school is divided into three areas; two classrooms and the third part being the Foundation Unit. Class three has 24 pupils in years three and four, taught by Mrs Palmer. Class two has 25 pupils in years one and two, taught by Mrs Wilman. The Foundation Unit has 23 pupils in reception and Nursery and is managed by Mrs Stokoe.
The new class room was designed with the help of class three with pupils from years three and four.

The design team agreed a series of workshops from which they could work collaboratively to produce a series of ideas that would inform the final design for the classroom building.

Each workshop followed roughly the Curriki design curriculum. The students were given a subject for discussion and exploration. The workshops were devised in order to illustrate to the students how an architect designs a building.
The work produced by Whittonstall school informed the design of the building as a classroom space for the school. In order to obtain a different view point the architectural design team invited an older student from year 10 to work on the project in their office for two weeks, in order to experience and engage with the process first hand. The work produced by the older student helped inform the concept of the building a multifunctional teaching and learning centre that could be used by the wider community.

Workshop . 1 Instinct and Site

The first workshop with the school included an introduction to the project and a discussion about what constitutes site analysis.

The students were then asked to consider 6 possible sites located within their school’s existing site boundary.
The students considered each site in terms of climatic conditions such as orientation to the sun and exposure to wind, etc, and location with a view to the affect on the overall setting of the school, and the chance of taking advantage of the terrific views since the school is located on a hill.

Photographs of each site (taken by the students) and the comments and analysis of each site can be found in section 5 of the submission.

Workshop 2 . Sustainable Building and the Sun

Following a debate as to which was the best site for the new classroom; the students were encouraged to focus on ways in which the proposed new building could be located on the site. The architectural team explained that the first rule for designing a sustainable building was to orientate the building correctly on the site. The possibility of using passive solar gain to help heat the building, and to maximize natural daylight within the building should be the main priorities when locating the building.

Workshop 3 . Structure and Environmental Health

Workshop 3 saw the students examining how the structure and fabric of the building could be designed in order to aid learning. Sliding and moving walls dissolve into large pieces of furniture. Walls and ceilings retract to allow natural ventilation. As well as examining the classroom environment the students proposed new environments for learning, such as a subterranean burrow for nocturnal burrowing animals and a wormery attached to a composting machine.

The proposals and sketches can be found also in section 5

In addition to investigating different environments for learning the architectural team also visited the schools “Forest Classroom “ located in a wood some 5 miles from the school. This space in a clearing represents a dynamic learning environment where students can experience nature first hand and learn basic survival techniques such as learning how to make flat bread, on an open fire.

The students thought the idea of creating greater connections between the new classroom and their existing forest classroom was an idea worth pursuing.

Workshop 4 . Making a Model of your classroom and the sketch up

By working through a series of exercises concerned with form and function with physical models a general form was derived at for the classroom building. The students agreed that the new classroom should be a delightful and relaxing place to learn.

• Feel fresh safe and new
• Should not be a simple square, it should not have straight lines
• Have lots of natural light and fresh air
• Have lots of space and flexibility
• Have Different zones for different work
• Have walls that open up to the outside and a roof that opens up to the sky
• Use new technology, new furniture ( such as desks that disappear into the floor)
• Use Solar and wind power

The Scheme

The design of the new classroom is a response to all of the aspects thought of as important by the students. The building is a multi use space that can accommodate intimate group sessions as well as large open performances on lecture theatre like staging and retractable seating.

The internal environment will have masses of natural day lighting to reduce requirements for artificial lighting during the daytime. The building will be naturally ventilated. The heat source for the building will be via an under floor heating system powered from ground source heat pumps, supported by a range of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

The architectural design team and the students decided that it would be a good idea to link the design of the new classroom with the curriculum. As part of the spring term this year the students were studying Charles Darwin. This included all aspects of Darwin’s life and writing.

The students were particularly interested in the ship that carried Darwin on his most extensive exploration trip around the world. They were intrigued how this simple ex navy ship became a vessel for collecting and transporting all of the amazing artifacts alive and dead, that would help Darwin form his theory on evolution.

The students decided that part of their classroom for future should be a transportable pod that could be transported to their forest classroom during the summer months. This pod or pods could be used as a small shelter or vessel in order to record the activities that had taken place in the forest during spring and summer. In the Autumn the pods could be returned and plugged into the new classroom facility and act as a resource for all groups in the school.

In line with the name given to Darwin’s ship, the pods would be called Beagle 4 following the space probes Beagle 2 and 3.

Location